This relates to camper body attachments for vehicles, and more particularly to a foldable canopy or cap attachment for use with a pick-up truck equipped to pull a fifth wheel trailer.
The fifth wheel pick-up trucks ordinarily have a fifth wheel positioned on the body while the trailer has a king pin extending downwardly from the forward end thereof which is connected to the fifth wheel. The fifth wheel means has been found to have several advantages over the rear bumper trailer hitch. One advantage is the greater stability of the fifth wheel connection. Since the downward pressure from the trailer is positioned in the truck body as opposed to the rear bumper, the truck and trailer bounce around less. In addition, with a fifth wheel attachment, the pressure of the front wheels of the truck against the ground is not decreased by the trailer weight in the back and therefore, there is greater control of the truck. Furthermore, the fifth wheel means can hold the trailer more strongly and securely than the rear bumper trailer hitch.
Cap attachments which convert pick-up trucks to campers are employed for several purposes. These caps provide an enclosed, enlarged truck box section, or camper body, within which various items may be stored and hauled. The cap is provided with a key operated lock so that the cap protects the stored items from theft, as well as from the weather. The cap also prevents the items from being blown around by the wind while the truck is being driven.
It is desirable that the attachment be portable so that when the trailer is removed from the truck at a desired time, the cap is available to readily convert the pick-up truck to a camper body. For pick-up trucks equipped with a fifth wheel for trailer attachment, such portability requires that the fifth wheel be accessible to the king pin of the trailer through the cap. This allows one, for example, to pull into a trailer park, and remove and leave the trailer at the park for days or weeks at a time, while driving and hauling various items with a rigid weather-resistant compact camper truck. At any desired time, the trailer can be readily reattached to the truck.
Until now, such an attachment for use with pick-up trucks equipped with a fifth wheel for trailer attachment and which is sturdy and rigid, yet portable has not existed.
A principle object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved foldable canopy attachment for a fifth wheel pick-up truck which may be employed to convert the truck box into a rigid, weather resistant camper body, the attachment being rugged in construction, easy to set up for use, and being readily foldable to a substantially flat rigid, weather resistant cover for the truck box, said cover allowing attachment of a trailer to the fifth wheel of the pick-up truck.
A further object of this invention is to provide a rigid weatherproof cover attachment on the box of a fifth wheel pick-up truck while pulling a trailer attached to the fifth wheel of the truck, said cover attachment being readily unfoldable to form a rigid weatherproof camper body while not pulling a trailer.